I take back any recommendation I've ever made for WHN webhosting.

I had an account with them for almost a year and a half, the last bit of which has been on a dedicated server. Due to cost restraints I was unable to continue on the server and, with their agreement, was going to return my site to a standard account.

I also recommended that all of my "customers" use them as their webhost because the service had been great.

That has changed. The owner of WHN, attempted to steal my domain name.The current WHOIS database reads:

Registrant:
ma-at.net (MA-AT2-DOM)
9807 NE 130th Place #106
Kirkland, WA 98034
US

Domain Name: MA-AT.NET

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Hostmaster, WHN (PG3395) admin@WWW-HOSTING.NET
Web Hosting Network
2910 Brookridge Circle
Anchorage, AK 99504
US
907-929-7642 209-320-3502 209-320-3502

Record expires on 04-Feb-2003.
Record created on 04-Feb-2000.
Database last updated on 24-Jun-2002 11:51:07 EDT.

Domain servers in listed order:

NS.MA-AT.NET 64.71.171.11
NS2.MA-AT.NET 64.71.171.12

The only thing correct on their is the Registrant's address. Until 6/23/02 I was the administrative and billing contacts for my domain name.

Fortunately I am still the Registrant and Verisign is taking corrective action.

This host will *never* be recommended by me again.

****

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Billing Department
> Sent: Monday, June 24, 2002 12:22 AM
> To: slashkat@netzero.net
> Subject: Re: Account Cancelation Request
>
>
> Actually take your business elsewhere Kat, what you have done is
> like a slap in the face.
>
> How many years have we hosted you? 1? almost 2?
>
> I help you, i setup your server, I give you a 18 MONTH CONTRACT
> RATE. YOU CANCEL AFTER 2 MONTHS. I ALLOWED
> THIS SINCE YOU SAID YOU WERE BROKE. ON A PERSONAL LEVEL, YOU MAKE
> MY STOMACH TURN. I MANAGED YOUR SERVER, I
> MOVED OVER 40 CUSTOMERS AT NO CHARGE. I GAVE YOU A BIGGER
> DISCOUNT OF $100 FOR CPANEL WHICH YOU USED TO MANAGE
> YOUR CUSTOMERS. I BROKE MY BACK FOR YOU AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME???
>
> TAKE YOUR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE.
>
> <WHN Signature>

***

----- Original Message -----
From: "Katherine McFadden-Stigers"
To: Network Information - WHN
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2002 11:34 AM
Subject: Website shenanigans


> <Name>,
>
> You do know that I can override your denials to Network Solutions by a
> simple fax on Ma'at.net letterhead, right? Your childish pranks do not
> serve you well. I *was* going to continue referring people to you as a
> host. You provided excellent service up till the 2 days before the
> scheduled server transfer date.
>
> I purchased my domain, ma-at.net, on February 23, 2000 and proceeded to
> go through a number of hosts.
>
> I signed up with WHN in March of 2001. In March of 2002, I asked if
> moving my reseller accounts and me to a dedicated server would help you
> with your bandwidth issues. It was a financial squeeze, but I thought I
> could do it.
>
> You requested my fax number on two occasions, to send me a server
> contract. I sent you the fax number twice. I never received, nor
> signed, said contract.
>
> My partner lost her job and we could no longer afford the server. I
> asked if the server could be canceled. You stated that it would be okay
> and that the server would transfer on June 22, 2002.
>
> On June 19, 2002, all access to the server, and my reseller accounts
> were taken away. It took 12 hours to get access back. Not bad, except
> you weren't receiving all the emails from panicked customers.
>
> You immediately started transferring sites to the server. This
> indicates you possibly needed the space. In which case you did *not*
> lose any money on the deal.
>
> On June 21, 2002, I found a web host that offered more space for less
> money and which allowed multiple domain names with separate accounts for
> the same price. This host would save me $20.00/mo. Restating that I am
> poor, this was a good deal.
>
> On June 23, 2002, I cancelled my account with you. You proceeded to try
> to gain control of my domain name. Fortunately, you did not have
> authorization to change registrant information. I am working with
> Verisign to change the contacts back to me.
>
> You did create a bit of extra hassle for me. Yay for you. But as my
> site is no longer serving other customers, the fact that it will be down
> for two or three days is a mere inconvenience.
>
> Yes, you did lose me as a customer. Unfortunately for you, you did not
> take it well and behaved childishly and showed poor business ethics. I
> have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and the State of
> Alaska Attorney General so that others with the foresight to research
> your company will hopefully choose not to do business with you.
>
> I've also sent an email to all of my former customers as well as several
> online communities that I am part of and warned them of your perfidy.
>
> Oh, and by the way, it does not do well to type in all caps. You do
> know that that indicates yelling, right?
>
> Sincerely,
> Katherine McFadden-Stigers
>
***

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Network Information - WHN
> Sent: Monday, June 24, 2002 2:22 PM
> To: Katherine McFadden-Stigers
> Subject: Re: Website shenanigans
>
>
> I will be looking into law at this moment because verbal
> contracts and email confirmations stand just as good
> as a signature, you ****ed me over so i figured i would repay the thanks.
>
> thanks, thats exactly what i wanted to do, create more hassle for you.
>
> im not a moron. I know you can alter it with a simple fax, but it
> will take 7 days.
>
> you can take your site and screw yourself, im very glad that i am
> greating a hassle for you since you are a
> low life either way

From there website,

Our Customer Commitment

Web Hosting Network is committed to 110% Customer Satisfaction. When a customer has an issue with something that he feels is not "up to par" or he/she feels that they are not understanding the solution to a problem, Our staff is trained to handle each issue on a personal level Our Technicians can walk you though the most basic steps such as setting up an email account or more advanced issues such as secure certificates for your commerce web site.

I must say that is a hell of a personal level,if this is true i cant belive a host would actually use language like that towards a customer.

LOL. This is getting better and better everyday. First it's the e-mails from ParadiseDesign now it's WHN. LOL. Continue.

You screwed our company so hard, im glad you posted it. Im not ashamed at all, you cost us well over $2,000 in crap and the joke is on us so HA HA HA

Theres no point in attempting to bring this women to court over the lost money since she cant even pay her light bill, so I will say it again, I am not ashamed over this. Think whatever you want to think, thats not for me to decide nor is it for me to "sway" your thinking. Take the thread as you want, really, if it changes your perception of WHN, thats fine with me.

PS: I wont be responding to this thread after my intial post. I have better things to do then defend my company to a (insert whatever you want here)

I think I'm going to side with Alaskan Wolf on this one. I doubt seriously if he wanted to steal a domain name like ma-at.net. I think you are jumping to conclusions. Maybe his language to you was not right; but there comes a point when a customer abuses you and/or your services so much that you don't care what you say or how you say it; or you speak to them on their level which seems to be the only type of language they may understand.

You sound like a real problem client. You should be grateful that he told you to leave instead of strangling you. :)

What's up with all these flames? I side with Gary on this one.

Not to be a newbie basher or anything but

hmmmmmmmm who to believe 1 post wonder or 1158 poster, thats a wolf and can do me a lot of damage ;)

Originally posted by BadBoy

I must say that is a hell of a personal level,if this is true i cant belive a host would actually use language like that towards a customer.

Looks as though she wasn't a customer anymore at that point, eh?

It's nice to see though, that not EVERYONE is jumping up on their high horses and pointing fingers around here for once. There's something to be said for telling someone you feel has wronged you to go jump off a bridge. It was Gary's personal decision to do what he did and as such I for one respect his decision. It's his business and he's free to run it as he sees fit.

Frankly, I find it not only unprofessional, but stomach turning, to watch some of the vultures attack hosts around here by waving the 'you're unprofessional' stick at them. Most of those people wouldn't know professionalism if it crawled up their *ahem* nose and died there.

Originally posted by kms
I take back any recommendation I've ever made for WHN webhosting.

This might be blunt, but how do you take back recommendations you've never made here on WHT? As terrastudios already mentioned, I don't wanna be a WHT newbie basher in any means, but this thread just seems like one of those 'Here's my revenge' sort of threads - *lets post it in every big online forums I can find through google!

I had an account with them for almost a year and a half, the last bit of which has been on a dedicated server. Due to cost restraints I was unable to continue on the server and, with their agreement, was going to return my site to a standard account.

You've been satisfied with their service for just a bit over a year and as soon as they provide you with a deal that you agreed to, you quit on them 2 months into the deal because you 'could not afford it' - they give you the benefit of the doubt and allow you to break the deal up. I guess it was a good thing for you that you didn't receive the contract, if so - you wouldn't have much to work with right now. I can understand Gary's frustration since he went out on a limb for you.

You immediately started transferring sites to the server. This indicates you possibly needed the space. In which case you did *not* lose any money on the deal.

Is this a bad thing? He is simply trying cover as much costs lost through you by placing some customers in this server... what was he supposed to do with the server - let it sit out for couple weeks? I would question those who were in his position and just left the server completely alone.

* denotes exaggerated sarcastic comment

I also side with Gary.
I also HIGHLY doubt they tried to "steal" your domain.

I think he meant to let you know he was yelling by using caps.

I really don't approve of the behavior the person replying used though.

Originally posted by Drewcifer

Frankly, I find it not only unprofessional, but stomach turning, to watch some of the vultures attack hosts around here by waving the 'you're unprofessional' stick at them. Most of those people wouldn't know professionalism if it crawled up their *ahem* nose and died there.

He can run his business however he likes, but being vindictive, especially while being so brazenly open about it, is entirely unprofessional, not to mention childish to the extreme.

-Bob

Originally posted by TMX


He can run his business however he likes, but being vindictive, especially while being so brazenly open about it, is entirely unprofessional, not to mention childish to the extreme.

-Bob

Didn't I mention how unprofessional it is to go around telling everyone how unprofessional they are??? :beer:

Customer is always right! Even when there wrong...

Regards

Inspector sides with Gary on this one. Know for a fact that Gary spent alot of time helping this person. Who would want to steal a name like that anyway. not here.

Sounds like to me this person needs to get a job first and pay their bill then they can complain.

INSPECTOR

Originally posted by Choppy
Customer is always right! Even when there wrong...

Regards

Not exactly. You want your customers to perceive they are always right.

In over 30 years of dealing with clients, I have never spoke to a client in that manner; and doubt if I ever would, especially with email where you have time to cool off before answering.

However, I wouldn't say that I would "never" respond in that manner. I may have never had a client like this one, either. I doubt that he usually respond to clients in this manner. Maybe he had a bad hair day.

The more I read WHT, the more I'm inclined to give hosts the benefit of the doubt. Hosts are people too, and should not be abused by their clients.

I'm on Garys side all the way. Hell, If he wanted to steal the domain he would have took it over.

Don't you think we lack information to be on anyone's side?

Now, I'm not _asking_ for information. I perfectly understand why Gary would want to leave this story at rest, especially if he's already been through a lot.

Originally posted by kms
The only thing correct on their is the Registrant's address. Until 6/23/02 I was the administrative and billing contacts for my domain name.

Considering they had control over your domain name, I assume you registered the domain name through them. If that's the case, then they really are the administrative and billing contacts for your domain name, not you. They registered and purchased the domain name in your name, not you. If you want that changed, you'll have to contact them about the situation. They did not attempt to "steal" your domain name. If that's not the case, then they really did steal your domain name because they shouldn't have control over it.

Yes, this was my first post. Yes it is an attempt to prevent others from using WHN's service. This site was recommended to my by a former customer.

Two months ago, coincidentally when WHN's server's stabilized, I asked if moving my domain and my resellers to a dedicated or semi-dedicated server would help WHN with their server problems. I knew that a couple of my customers had extremely popular sites, at least one of which was a gallery of her artwork and so used a lot of bandwidth. I made no pretenses that this was going to be financially easy for me.

When asked about different services I'd like on the server I told them repeatedly that I could not afford to go over a certain dollar amount and I never asked for more than I could afford. And by the way, I always pay my bills.

Also, I registered my domain in 02/2000. I did not purchase space with WHN until 03/2001.

When my partner lost her job, I explained this to Gary and he agreed to take the server back. If he hadn't I would have continued to find a way to pay for it. I never stated that I would not pay my bill.

I never made any false promises; I never attempted to portray myself as being more than I really am. I never intentionally tried to hurt anyone. Indeed, I was originally trying to help them.

If he had simply let me change my host, to someone less expensive, I would still be recommending people to him. Since he was so insulting to me, and brazenly attempting to screw with me, I no longer feel comfortable recommending his service and want people to know why.

Originally posted by Drewcifer


Didn't I mention how unprofessional it is to go around telling everyone how unprofessional they are??? :beer:

Touche....now where's that smiley that flips the bird... :)

-Bob